Timber and Wood Process Worker
What the work is
Performs routine tasks in a sawmill, timber yard or wood product factory, such as sorting and stacking timber, and assembling timber or wood product orders.
Would you enjoy the work?
These are the main tasks in the official description. Mark how each one sounds to you.
- Loads and unloads logs and timber onto equipment and conveyors for stripping and seasoning
- Transports wood and processed wood products such as plywood, chipboard sheets, and panels, to work areas
- Examines timber or wood for faults such as knots, bad edges and stains
- Assists production operators in operating timber and wood processing machinery or equipment, such as saws, planers and sanders
- Measures and cuts timber or wood products to specific dimensions using machines or hand tools
- Sorts and stacks timber or wood products according to size, type and quality
- Racks offcuts and removes waste timber or wood products from processing area for disposal or recycling
- Assembles orders by selecting and gathering required timber pieces or wood products
- Packs and loads finished timber or wood products for transportation
Try it
A simulation and a case study from this kind of work, set in a recycling facility sorting paper, plastics, glass and metal from kerbside bins, with a plastics reprocessing line next door. They are fictional.
The kind of days you could have
Good days
- The sorted bales stack up neatly and you know each one is clean enough to be reused
- Spotting a problem item early and keeping the whole line running
- A load comes in messy and leaves as clean, valuable material
Hard days
- Standing at the sorting belt for hours while it keeps moving
- Finding things in the bins that should never have been there
- Noise, dust and a belt that never stops
Written by Career Calling as a general guide. Real roles vary by employer and place.
Work a mission
Step into a simulated workplace in this field, with a brief from your manager.
Description and tasks: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Occupation Standard Classification for Australia, 2024, Version 1.0 (opens another site), occupation 839141, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. The skill guide above is our plain English summary.